Tavern Talks
by NattyWright
Summary: A series of One-shots revolving around my warden Lyla Mahariel, Merrill, Leliana and others. Set in the same universe as my other story "From the Dales to Denerim"
1. Lothering

**_Author's note._**

_**I was meant to post this weeks ago but I got side-tracked with my main story. Just in case you didn't notice, this is set in the same universe as that one with Lyla Mahariel as the warden. For those that haven't read my other story then all you need to know about Lyla for this story is that she is a duel-wielding warrior who is Merrill's adopted sister that is Ashalle adopted both Lyla and Merrill. Oh and she romances Leliana.**_

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**THE HANGED MAN**

Merrill shivered as she entered the dirty tavern. She hated it here, she wasn't used to so many people in one place, and they were so loud! Wishing that Hawke was with her she stepped into the middle of the room looking for familiar faces. Varric and Isabella were sitting at a table in the corner laughing loudly, Merrill saw the amount of empty bottles on the table and knew that Isabella would be extremely drunk. Varric noticed her standing in the doorway and struggled to get up, waving at her as he did.

"Daisy! Come join us at the table, we were just having a few drinks and sharing stories, I'll get you that strawberry wine you love so much!" Varric was slurring quite heavily but Merrill didn't mind, she didn't think she had ever heard the dwarf not slurring. She walked towards the table and sat in the empty seat that her drunk friend had left. Isabella wrapped an arm around the little elf and smiled, Merrill could smell the rum on her breath and had to supress a gag.

"Kitten!" Isabella was slurring more than Varric but her voice was full of warmth. "It's so good to see you. And without Hawke as well! I thought you were joined at the hip. Or maybe I just like thinking of that image." She winked at Merrill causing a bright red flush to appear on her face. Varric quickly returned and placed the glass in front of the elf, he always looked after her, she was really glad that she had made such good friends.

"Varric." Merrill paused to take a sip of her drink, sighing contently at the taste. "Do you know any stories of the hero of Ferelden? I would love to hear about her."

"Daisy of course I do. I have stories about everyone. How about I tell you of the first time she met her bard? It's quite exciting believe me."

**LOTHERING**

It was a mid-summers day when the Darkspawn attacked the quiet village. They tore through the town like a hot knife through butter. Destroying everything it their path. Dead bodies tossed around like playthings by the massive ogres that accompanied the evil blight creatures. The town was burning and the farmland was destroyed, picked clean by looters before the darkspawn had arrived.

The only building that was left standing now was the massive chantry. The light from the burning buildings and from the sun lit it up magnificently and if anyone passing by was not distracted by the hordes of darkspawn they would have been amazed at its beauty.

Inside the Chantry was a lone survivor. A redheaded Chantry sister. She had a bow and arrow in her hand and before her lay dozens of dead Darkspawn. She was singing wildly to herself as she nocked another arrow and without even taking the time to aim let it fly, straight into the middle of a Hurlocks face. She sang louder as she killed any darkspawn entering the Chantry building. She was the makers bow, she was the Maker's vengeance. She would kill all the darkspawn that dared enter her place of worship.

At the outskirts of the village approached two Grey Wardens. A human and an elf. The human was whimpering in her shining armour, the tears from his face splashing down upon his chest piece and tarnishing its shine, he looked down and prayed to the Maker for it all to be over. The elf looked at him and laughed. She was much smaller than the man and looking at her she didn't look at all dangerous. She wore her red hair into a simple braid as was the Dalish fashion and her facial tattoos told a story of vengeance and fury. She wore traditional ironwood armour and knelt down to her fellow Warden.

"**SHEMLEN"** She screamed at him. "**GET YOUR SORRY ARSE OFF THE FLOOR AND HELP ME KILL DARKSPAWN."** The man flinched as she shouted at him and fell to the floor. She sighed and decided to just mount her horse and carry on without him.

**THE HANGED MAN.**

"A horse? Make it a griffon Varric. Please!" Merrill pleaded with the dwarf.

"That's a little tricky Daisy. Griffons are extinct." Varric smiled to himself though, he knew no matter what he said and no matter how much he protested that a griffon would be in the story now.

"Oh. But can't a griffon swoop in and save the day? Please!" She pleaded with the dwarf, Isabella would have laughed at the look on his face if she hadn't fallen asleep in her rum.

"Swooping is bad daisy. You win though. I'll make it a griffon. I take it you want me to call it 'Feathers'?" Merrill nodded excitedly and took another sip of her wine.

**LOTHERING**

Lyla petted her griffon. She loved how fluffy the majestic creature was. The silvery-grey feathers shone perfectly in the summer sun.

"Oh Feathers, what are we going to do about this stupid shemlen?" She whispered to the griffon which responded in a sound not unlike laughter. She jumped and effortlessly front flipped into a seated position behind the animal's wings.

Feathers cawed then took off in flight, he flew around the battlefield and Lyla took her bow and was shooting easily at the darkspawn below. Finally, after what seemed to be an age or two, she saw a monster worth killing, an ogre. As she nocked an arrow she told Feathers to fly higher, she needed a real challenge now, she took a deep breath, drew and let the arrow fly. Time seemed to slow down as Lyla watched her arrow go, it span slowly in the air and picked up more speed as it fell, finding its intended target the eye of an ogre. She laughed wildly as it fell to the floor dead.

"You will all die by my arrows!" She cackled. "Feathers bring me closer. There are more darkspawn to destroy." Kicking the griffon it dove down and she brought her bow up nocking an arrow as she did. She spied the figure of a hurlock below and as quickly as she saw it she released an arrow, piercing the creature's neck. The screams of the dying darkspawn below her and Feathers was drowned out by the shrieks of the griffon and the joyous laughter of the elven Warden.

She commanded the majestic creature to land, she had grown bored of picking off the monsters from above, it was time for a real challenge. As feathers came close to the floor she dived off his back, drawing her sword and axe as she did so, forcing the blade of her sword through the chest of an unfortunate genlock who was in her landing spot, she rolled into a crouched position and looked around her.

A growl left her lips as she saw the devastation of the small village up close. From the skies the burning town had almost looked beautiful but down here, bombarded by the smells of death and burning flesh she could no longer believe it. Once she would have been glad to see a shemlen village burn to the ground but this was different, this was a perversion of the natural things. The enemy of my enemy is my friend and whilst Lyla viewed humans as enemies they were nothing compared to the horrors of the darkspawn. She vowed to Elgar'nan that she would get vengeance for all the victims of this blight before it was over. A series of grunts pulled her back to reality as a wave of darkspawn approached the dangerous little elf.

She rose from her knees and swore an elven curse at the darkspawn approaching, she wasn't scared, she had faced much worse odds that this before and come out unscathed, if anything the creatures approaching should be scared of her but like everything else in this world they were not scared of a little female elf. She watched as they encircled her before she pounced, what advantage the strength of the darkspawn may have provided was lost almost immediately, it didn't matter how strong a man was if he couldn't hit his target. She danced around the many monsters hacking and slashing at them as she did so, she let an elven song burst from her lips as she span, killing these monstrosities always put her in the best of moods and why not celebrate with a song. Her axe found the neck of the last genlock and it fell, leaving behind its head for a moment before that too fell to the floor, when she heard a feminine scream erupt from the accursed chantry building before her. As much as she was hoping not to have to enter that horrible building, too much bad blood between that church and her people, she would not abandon any would-be survivors, she had sworn it.

"Andruil guide me. Mythal protect me." She chanted as she ran to the building, hoping beyond hope that whoever is in there is safe. "Dread wolf take these disgusting monsters."

As she entered the exquisite building she stopped dead. The most beautiful woman the elf had ever seen stood near the back of the chantry, leaning against the pews, with a horde of dead darkspawn around her feet. Lyla could have stayed there, watching the gorgeous woman, all day but a roar from an ogre brought her crashing back to reality. Whilst this woman and her bow may have saved her from the smaller darkspawn, the ogre that had broken into the building just before the elf was too much even for the chantry sister.

"Halem sahlin." The elf roared as she ran towards the towering creature. "Ar tu na'lin emma mi. You will not take her!" She jumped at the behemoth before her and brought her sword forward, gripping it with both hands. It stuck in the back of the monster and she held on for dear life. The ogre screamed and swatted its large arms back at the pain it felt between its shoulder blades but unfortunately for the blighted monster it could not reach. With a grunt and another elven curse Lyla brought herself up onto the blade and launched herself up onto the creatures horned head, she once again drew her trusty axe and brought it down with force into the ogre's skull, splitting it almost in to between its eyes. The monster took an uneasy step before falling before the chantry sister.

Lyla effortlessly stepped off the huge monster and smiled up at the beautiful woman before her. "Aneth ara lethallan. I am Lyla Mahariel of the Grey Wardens, who might you be my lady?"

"Leliana." Leliana was entranced, this amazing tempest of a woman flew through the chantry and destroyed that monster without even trying and to top all of that raw power and skill off she was beautiful. She had always found elves attractive but this one was more so, the exotic tattoos on her face sang a song to Leliana, a song of love, protection and vengeance. "You must be my knight in shining armour. It's customary to reward such deeds with a kiss no? Come here my gorgeous little elf."

**THE HANGED MAN**

"Varric!" Merrill whispered in a stern voice. "That's my sister! I don't want to hear about that sort of thing!"

"Sorry daisy, I forgot I wasn't speaking to Rivaini here." He motioned to the sleeping pirate beside him. "If she's your sister why did you want me to tell you a story about her? Surely you have more of them than me?"

"Well yes but you tell them much better than me." She stammered around the rim of the mug of wine. "Would you like to hear one then? I only have stories from when we were children though." She smiled to herself as one particular memory struck her. "I could tell you about when Lyla and I tried to steal a halla and run away?" When the charismatic dwarf smiled at her to continue she began.

"I'll try to tell it like you Varric." She adopted a lower voice, trying to impersonate the dwarf before her.

"No shit there I was…"

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**Author's note**

**This is currently a one-shot story but as I have left a bit of a cliff-hanger at the end here I am hoping to update it sometime in the future but I have no idea if or when that will be. **

**Translations**

**Halem sahlin – This ends now.**

**Ar tu na'lin emma mi – I will see your blood on my blade.**


	2. Vallaslin

_**Author's note**_

_**Once again, this is set within the same universe as my main story.**  
_

_**This chapter contains various head-canons I have had about my character and the Sabrae clan in general. e.g. Merrill and Lyla being sisters.**_

_**If you have read the latest chapter of FTDTD you will know that I commissioned an artist to draw my Mahariel and I'm delighted to say its complete. The link is on my profile page.**_

_**Enjoy**_

**The Hanged Man**

"Kitten?" Isabella had sobered up slightly by now. She was sitting opposite the elf and resting her head on her hands as she spoke, slurring ever so slightly. "Your tattoos are gorgeous, have I ever told you that?"

Merrill flushed wildly, red rising to the tips of her ears as she looked towards the floor. "No… No, you haven't, Bella, mas serannas. I designed them myself." She shyly smiled up at the pirate despite her embarrassment.

"Oh look at that blush!" Isabella squealed, "I haven't seen you that red since I asked about you and Hawke. Your tattoos though, do all elves design their own? I remember seeing the Warden's tattoos as well and they were very different to yours, still lovely though."

"Mahariel? I forgot you met her but no, she didn't design her vallaslin, I did." Another shy smile broke across the elf's lips as she spoke.

"Oh you have to tell me this story!"

**The Brecillian Forest**

"Mer!" Lyla burst into the aravel canopy in a panic. The aravel itself was a small caravan just big enough to hold the family's chest of clothing and weapons. However, once it had stopped moving it could be expanded outward with some small amounts of framework. The sails of the caravan would fold and turn until they more resembled a massive tent than a sail and it made a very good shelter. Lyla lived with her adopted family and they had been given a larger aravel because of it, meaning they had plenty of room to sleep once it had been assembled. She was extremely close to her family, her sister Merrill more so than she was to her mother - Ashalle - but that was mainly due to their closeness in age, Merrill being four years her junior. "Merrill! Where are you?" The young elf began tearing open chests and searching for her younger sister, throwing clothes and other possessions all over the floor in a desperate attempt to find her.

"I'm here, lethallan, what do you…" Merrill walked into the covering, pushing past the small entrance fold, and gasped. There was not a lot of floor space between the three bedrolls and now the land was covered in pieces of clothing and more. "Mythal, Ashalle is going to kill you."

"That doesn't matter right now! The keeper believes I am ready for my blood writing!" Lyla rushed over to her sister, grasped her in a frantic hug, and squeaked in happiness.

"You're so young, Lyla, only fourteen!" Merrill struggled to breathe from how tight she was being held but just about managed to speak.

"I know. That's why I need you! Marethari said I was the youngest elvhen she has ever seen take the rite but that I was ready. Can you help me design my vallaslin, lethallan?" Lyla was practically begging now, she had released her sister and grasped her hands, looking up with big green eyes silently screaming for help.

"Come on then." Merrill took her sisters hand and led her away from the aravel, smiling at Ashalle who was walking inside.

"What is this! LYLA MAHARIEL, GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!" A scream erupted from inside the canopy and Lyla grabbed her sister's hand, pulling her along as she giggled wildly.

**The Hanged Man**

"Naughty Daisy!" Varric laughed as he listened, he had arrived shortly after Merrill had begun her story, bringing Marian Hawke with him. Hawke sat next to the elf, her arm around her Dalish lover, and laughed along.

"Varric, I could tell you things about Merrill that would surprise you indeed." Merrill choked as Hawke spoke, blushing wildly once again. She slapped the arm of her lover before relaxing once more into the embrace.

"Ma Vhenan!" Merrill giggled, "I was in the middle of a story before you rudely interrupted. Where was I?"

**The Brecillian Forest**

"I can't believe Marethari is letting you get your blood writing already, Lyla." Merrill shouted up to her sister. They were climbing one of the many trees around the camp, an elaborate attempt to hide from their adopted mother but an attempt nonetheless.

"You should have seen the size of the bear I was hunting." Lyla smirked down the branches towards the mage, "It could have swallowed me whole, I swear. Marethari said that if I was brave enough to fight such a monster I was brave enough to finally get my writing." She jumped up and grabbed at a higher branch, swinging herself up with a grunt before turning around to help her sister.

"Ma serannas. So because you stupidly fought a bear you're ready to be an adult?" Merrill gasped as she climbed. They finally reached a branch high enough to avoid their mothers wroth but also big enough for them both to sit comfortably. "It doesn't make sense, Lyla."

"Well it may have also been the fact that I have been harassing her with the idea for about a year, or it could be that I've been helping Hahren Paivel. I've also been fletching arrows for Hahren Ilen. Oh, and I saved Tamlen's life. That's important too." Lyla smirked once again at her sister whose mouth gaped open. Merrill attempted to close it but continually failed before giving up and just staring at her sister.

"You did what?" She eventually stuttered.

"I saved Tamlen's life. That's why I killed that bear. The fool forgot to check his surroundings when we were hunting." She snorted incredulously before Merrill motioned for her to continue. "He's the biggest idiot in the clan, I swear. We were just south of the clan when Tamlen found some flowers. The boy thought I'd like them so he bent down to pick them, completely ignoring my hushed warnings to flee. There was the biggest bear I have ever seen stood right behind him! It swiped at him but I managed to pull him away, then eventually I stabbed it with my dar'misaan. Mythal, I am such a hero." Lyla imitated a crowd cheering as she waved her arms around herself, causing Merrill to giggle uncontrollably.

"Some hero, you just stole his glory!" Merrill leant towards her sister and hushed her voice, "So, you and Tamlen are a thing then? Getting you flowers is cute!" Lyla grimaced and pretended to gag.

"Mer, don't even joke about it. He's really not for me!" Lyla blushed at how much of a boost it would be if Tamlen did like her but unfortunately for the boy, she was just not into men. She had recently realised this though and wasn't ready to tell anyone as it was against one of the biggest rules of the clan. "Can we talk about the design for my vallaslin now, please?"

Merrill smiled and produced a chalk and paper from her pouch; she had managed to grab some from Hahren Ilen's stores as they charged past it earlier.

The girls sat in the trees for hours, drawing different designs before eventually settling on one. Lyla loved to hunt so to have a dedication to the Goddess Andruil on her face was a given but the teen also wanted to celebrate Dirthamen. The mixture of the god of secrets and the goddess of hunt eventually became the design for a bow across her brow that swirled down the ridge of her nose and across her eyelids before masking her eyes. Lyla was in love with the design.

Lyla only needed to complete the process once. However, she told Merrill afterwards that the pain was so bad that it took all she had not to scream her head off or to attack the Hahren performing the process. As it turns out getting tattoos on your eyelids is even less enjoyable than it sounds.

**The Hanged Man**

"Hang on, there was another piece to her tattoo, wasn't there?" Isabel slurred, Merrill could swear that the pirate had some form of magic; she managed to make drinks disappear quicker than Merrill could get lost.

"Yes, she later got a dagger on her left cheek." Merrill sniffed, the story behind that tattoo was not as happy a story as the one she had just told, and she hated thinking of it. However, she had promised to tell the story of Lyla's tattoos so she had to tell it.

"It happened when I was nineteen and Mahariel was twenty three…"

**The Brecillian Forest**

"She's been gone a long time, Merrill." Ashalle spoke softly to her daughter. They were sitting by the fire in the middle of the camp, both exhausted from worry and lack of sleep. Lyla had been missing for about a month now and the clan had all but given up hope of finding her. They had stayed in the same campsite for longer than they wanted, all in the hope of their lost hunter finding her way back to them.

"She's still out there." Merrill growled an impressive imitation of her missing sister, before standing up. "I am going to find her, Ashalle, we can't just leave her."

Before Ashalle had a chance to respond, Merrill was off. She had only her clothing, her staff, and a pouch full of different herbs but it didn't matter. She was going to find her sister. She needed her.

She stumbled around in the forest for what seemed to be hours before hearing something behind her. A crack of a twig that made Merrill spin on the spot, her staff aimed up at the ready. A man in full shining armour stepped out into the small clearing and Merrill was astounded that she hadn't heard him earlier. She recognised the symbol on his chest though. It was one that was ingrained into every elvhen child, Templar. She raised her staff to fire but when she called upon her magic, she came up empty. The bastard had silenced her magic and she was powerless against him. One punch was all it took to take down the skinny elf and she felt tears fall as she lost consciousness.

The camp was horrifying. Merrill had woken as they dragged through it, just in time to see her sister again. Mahariel was draped against a wooden pole in the middle of the camp. All clothing had been cut from her and she was covered in wounds from head to toe, some looked mildly healed whilst others were fresh enough to have just been done. Merrill cried for her sister as they pulled her past the naked elf but Lyla only looked up at her, not truly recognising her. The fire that was usually in the hunter's eyes was all but gone, destroyed by the abuse she had suffered in the hands of the Templars, abuse that Merrill didn't even begin to understand, or want to.

Eventually they stopped moving, Merrill was forcefully pulled towards a man who ripped at her clothing to feel what was underneath, a cry left her lips as she began to understand what was about to happen. However, nothing did.

A roar of anger filled the camp as Lyla rose to her feet. She grabbed for a sword that a Templar had left near her as she charged through the camp. Her anger more than a match for the armed Templars attacking her and Lyla cut them down like flies. She had her way to her sister killing anything in her path before reaching them. The man who had groped Merrill turned to face her sister with a smirk on his face. He rose his left hand out to grab at the violent, crazed elf. Then he screamed.

Lyla had rose her sword, quicker than Merrill could see, and swung it down over the man's arm, severing it at the wrist. She span and quickly did the same to his other hand before shoving him with all of her might towards the roaring flames of the campfire. The Templar fell into the flames as Lyla collapsed to her knees, laughing maniacally as she did.

"Lethallan?" Merrill whispered. Screams erupted from the man and the smell of burning flesh made Merrill's stomach turn. She knew that her sister was angry but she couldn't let this man suffer so much. She called for her magic and fired an icy blast of snow at the flames, stopping the fires dead. "Lyla, let's go home. Ashalle missed you."

Lyla sobbed into her sisters arms and let herself be carried back home.

Two weeks later that Lyla demanded to be allowed an addition to her vallaslin. It was unheard of for any elf to change their blood writing at any time but Lyla would not let up. She screamed and roared that if the keeper didn't allow it she would just do it to herself and eventually Marethari let up, allowing her to add to her writing.

A small dagger was added to her face, an ode to Elgar'nan, the god of vengeance. The god that Lyla would try to become an embodiment of for the next year until she left to join the Wardens.

**The Hanged Man**

"Andraste's bloody knickers." Hawke gasped, she had held her lover as she struggled to tell the story and the full horror of it was finally hitting her. "Another reason to hate the bloody Templars."

"I'm beginning to think Blondie has the right idea." Varric muttered before excusing himself and the pirate from the table. Leaving Hawke alone to comfort her sobbing lover.


End file.
